The Hero Returns
by KageShade
Summary: One-shot. Link returns to his old home in the Kokiri forest, only to run into an unsuspecting Mido.


The Hero Returns

"Hey! What are you doing? That's someone's property, you know!" a small high pitched voice bit through the quiet of the evening. It was about this time when the Kokiri settled down and returned to their tree houses.

"I know," Link replied to the unknown, yet familiar voice, "I... was looking for the owner... Do you know if he's home?" Link turned and looked down the path behind him. To his dismay it was the self-proclaimed Kokiri leader, Mido.

"Link hasn't been home for seven years. At the request of Saria, his home has yet remained untouched, and is still his home." he rolled his eyes, "but you're out of luck pal, Link isn't ever coming back." The high pitched childlike quality of his voice did nothing to mask the sneer.

Link lazily leaned against the ladder, bemused. He remembered looking up the ladder years ago, thinking it such a feat. Now it was nothing. He gave Mido a smile, "What makes you say that? Surely if this 'Link' child had the guts to leave the forest, knowing full-well the dangers, he must've had some skill, right? Maybe he's safe on Lon Lon Ranch, schmoozing the rancher's daughter?" Link smirked at the thought. He'd actually been doing just that mere days ago.

Mido grunted and stamped on the dusty ground with a humph. "Impossible. We Kokiri die if we leave the forest. It's been too long. The only one who can't see that is Saria."

Link threw his head back and laughed. Laughed and laughed, mostly to make Mido uncomfortable, but also with real mirth. He pushed himself upright and meandered to the trunk of the tree, still laughing.

He came to a certain spot at the base and sat down. It wasn't quite as comfortable as it used to be. His ten-year old body used to fit perfectly in the groove of roots, now they just dug into him. Still he sat there, gazing at Mido as though he knew all the world.

"What makes you say that?" He asked again. "Are you certain Link was a Kokiri? The way you speak of him, I'd think not. Maybe he isn't. Maybe he grew up, and is now, instead of carving his imaginations of fighting monsters, he actually is? Maybe instead of telling and listening to stories of fabled heroes, he quickly becomes one? What if he actually has returned and you didn't know it."

Mido gazed at Link, his face filled with not understanding. His eyes were scrunched, knowing he'd missed something. Link rolled his eyes. He remembered Mido being thick headed, but not so much so. He stood and dusted off his tunic, acting as if he were leaving.

"Well next time you go to the forest temple, tell Saria Link says hi. Actually, can you tell everyone else too? They all seem too skittish for me to say it myself." He winked and placed a hand on the ladder.

He heard feet shuffling behind him and a young voice shout, "Hey!" Link didn't even pause as he climbed up. Mido's voice floated up to his pointed ears. "If Link wasn't a Kokiri, then what was he?"

Now standing on the porch, Link looked down and smiled. "He is seventeen years old. An adult by Hylian standards, as he now knows he applies to. Though, he's also still a forest child at heart and couldn't keep the sentimental side of him from taking over as soon as he entered the forest." He winked again and disappeared into the small tree house.

He could hear Mido's frenzied footsteps and shouting as he gazed at his old stuff. A wooden stump he'd spent many afternoons whittling into a monster. It had scores and grooves all over it from when he'd attacked it with his play sword. A fishing rod hung on one wall, next to a drawing Saria had given him.

It was of him, sitting on a stump next to the stream playing an ocarina. He remembered when she'd given it to him. That was back when they'd both thought they could play together forever. Link sighed, suddenly lonely. Navi had stayed back with Epona, giving him some much-needed space.

He sat on the bed and looked around. Orange evening light hit all his child hood belongings, breathing life into them. It filled him to the brim with emotion. Exasperated, he closed his eyes. It was all too much; everything that's happened, that will happen. And when he finally had a chance to visit home, he no longer could call it that.

The sound of many feet and voices came from outside. _"It seems Mido's drawn a crowd",_ Link thought. He wasn't in the mood for a crowd though. Again he sighed and stood.

Mido climbed the ladder excitedly. He wanted to prove that nothing could fool him, the Great Mido. Not even years and distance. Of course he hadn't recognized Link same as everyone else, but he'd been the first to find out. It was with much grandeur he'd announced to everyone that he'd found Link. He just omitted the conversation they'd had.

He reached the top and looked down at the others, all milling about, waiting to climb up. The leaf curtain that hung over the door was impenetrable and he couldn't see anyone inside. The tree house looked just as empty as usual.

"Come on Mido! Let's go in!" a sizeable group had amassed on the porch and were impatient to see their lost friend. Mido smirked and with a flourish, threw the curtain open. He gazed at the small crowd in front of him, reveling in their... confusion?

"_Well he does look a lot different," _Mido thought as he turned toward the doorway, _"maybe they don't-", _he paused mid thought. Link was gone. The house was just as abandoned as it had been for the last seven years.

"Mido, what a dirty trick! How could you do that?" the Kokiri children all looked dashed, their hopes all for naught.

Mido furiously shook his head, but with a dirty glare from every single pair of eyes he met, he knew they'd never believe him. Again he looked in the house, maybe Link was in a corner or something, though he didn't believe it himself. He didn't see anything unusual, but... something was missing.

It wasn't until everyone had left, that he realized what was missing. A picture. One that used to hang beside the fishing rod.

"I can't believe you did that. Don't you want to see them?" Saria's sweet voice pierced his thoughts. Link looked up from what he'd been holding.

"I do, but… It just doesn't feel right. They're all the same and I'm so... different. Even if they knew it was me, they still wouldn't treat me like their friend."

Saria gave him a sour look. "Have more faith in your friends."

He nodded reluctantly, "One day." He looked back down at the drawing he held. He was sitting in the same position as he had that day by the stream. He even sat on the same stump. But today didn't hold the same magic as that day had. Time changes everything. He knew that more than anyone.

"So what will you do now?" Saria asked.

He closed his eyes, whimsical ideas of living in the forest, away from everyone's problems, away from Hyrule, floated on his eyelids. He sighed.

"I'll do what I was born to do. I'll finish uniting the sages. I'll use their power, and yours to defeat Ganondorf. That is, I'll try to defeat Ganondorf."

Saria patted him on the shoulder, "Not only should you have faith in your friends; you should also have faith in yourself. I and the other sages believe in you. Hero of Time."

She smiled at him then, and in her eyes he knew it was true. He took a deep breath of the forest air he'd missed so much. His weapons clinked together as he stood, still breathing the fresh air. Slowly he drew the master sword and brought in front of his eyes, his reflection gazed at him on the cold surface.

He was the Hero of Time. Zelda had believed in him enough to bestow the Ocarina of Time to him. Saria and the Sages believed in him. Even the Master Sword in its own way, allowing him to wield it, believed in him. Maybe he could find the courage to believe in himself.

He swung the sword, the dying sunlight splashing off the gleaming blade. Determination masked his face.

"To Death Mountain."


End file.
